1 00 Insects most injurious to Cultivators : — 



able to judge of the practicability of the application of the 

 proposed remedies ; since it would be useless for an in-door 

 entomologist to endeavour, by experiment, to discover remedies 

 which, when discovered, could not be adopted, from the great 

 expense of the remedy itself, the impossibility of applying it, 

 or the liability of the destruction, not only of the insect, but also 

 of the plant. 



No. I. The Turnip Flea-Beetle * (Haltica nemorum). 



Class, In=ecta (Insects j that is, insected, or segmented, animals). 



Order, Coleoptera (Beetles ; that is, insects having the wings enclosed in 

 wing-cases). 



Family, Galeriicidae (Plant Beetles ; so named after the principal genus, 

 Galeruca). 



Genus, Haltica (of Illiger ; so named from a Greek word expressive of the 

 powers of leaping, which these insects possess). 



Species, Haltica nemorum (JAnuBius, Systema Natiirce,\o\.'\\.Tp. 595.', Mar- 

 sham, Entomologia Britnnnica, vol. i. p. 197. ; Donovan, Natural History of 

 British Insects, vol. xvi. pi. 569. fig. 1. {Jig. 33. 1, p. 108.) 



The generic character of this insect consists in the oblong- 

 ovate form of the body ; the posterior thighs greatly thickened, 

 and forni^d for leaping ; the tarsi of the hind legs short, and 

 inserted at the tip of the tibiae ; the elytra punctured, not 

 striated ; the thorax not transversely impressed behind ; and 

 the posterior tibiee not toothed. 



The specific character is : Body subdepressed, of an oblong- 

 ovate form, and brassy black colour, thickly dotted ; elytra, 

 greenish black, having an entire, broad, longitudinal pale yellow 

 line on each wing-case, and the base of the antennae, as well as 

 the tibiag and tarsi, pale clay-coloured. Length of the body, one 

 eighth of an inch. 



This insect (together with several other species belonging to 

 the same genus, and differing from it chiefly in size, in the 

 form of the mark upon the wing-cases, and in the colour of the 

 legs) may be justly regarded as affording a most convincing 

 proof of the injurious properties possessed by creatures of the 

 smallest size. Other creatures there are of obnoxious habits ; 

 but these, in many instances, are either so conspicuous from 

 their size, or so repulsive from their form, colour, sounds, or 

 other properties incident to their nature, that the attention is 

 roused, and directed at once to the remedy of injuries com- 

 mitted, or the avoidance of such injuries ; but the turnip flea, 



* This insect is usually termed the turnip fly ; but, as there are several 

 hymenopterous flies which are very destructive to the turnip, I have altered 

 the name fly to flea, in allusion to its extraordinary leaping powers ; in which 

 respect, as well as in its small size, it bears a resemblance to the common 

 flea. Perhaps, indeed, to prevent any mistake which might arise from calling 

 it a turnip flea, when it is in no degree actually related to the insect after 

 which it is named, it would be better to call it the turnip flea-beetle. 



